


Beauty and the QB

by ThatPilotGirl



Series: Disney Princesses: The College AUs No One Asked For [1]
Category: Beauty and the Beast (1991), Beauty and the Beast (2017), Beauty and the Beast - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, and then the muse said "nope", sorry couldn't help it, this was going to be a one shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-18
Updated: 2017-05-11
Packaged: 2018-10-20 06:54:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 9,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10657242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatPilotGirl/pseuds/ThatPilotGirl
Summary: The beauty and the beast college AU no one asked for. Mostly taken from Disney, some hints of the original story





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing, except gratitude to Ali for beta-ing

Belle awoke to loud knocking on the door.

"5 more minutes dad..." she mumbled, but the continued knocking interrupted her attempt at a lie-in.

"Belle! Belle! We need help!" She sat bolt upright, realizing quickly that she was not at home, but back in her room on campus for the first day of her last semester of college. The knocking on her door wasn't her father, but one of her residents. It was her job as a resident advisor to mentor the girls on her floor, but it was...a tad frustrating being woken up half an hour before her alarm went off.

"Just a minute Laurel!" she called, hastily grabbing a robe before opening the door.

Laurel was flanked by Pauline and Claudette, two of the other girls on the floor.

"How can I help you ladies?" she asked.

"Gaston is doing rounds tonight! He likes you so much, we were hoping you could help us! What do we wear? What do we say when he comes by?"

Belle stifled a sigh. Mentoring was all well and good, but she sometimes wished her girls would look up to her for something other than gaining the affections of the boorish boys RA one floor down.

"Just wear your favorite outfits. Something you feel confident in, so you'll feel good when you talk to him. And maybe talk about what you did over break."

"Thanks Belle!" Pauline giggled, and the three girls returned to their rooms.

Belle shut her door before she could demand to know why, exactly, they had required that information at 8 in the morning, instead of closer to when rounds were actually done. Well, as long as she was up, she might as well be productive. She canceled her alarm, booted up her laptop, and began going through e-mails. Junk, junk, newsletter, graduation information, junk, and....Belle crossed her fingers.

"Shit."

The scholarship she had applied for, for students who needed help finishing up classes had gone to someone else.

"Think Belle." she muttered. She could work Easter weekend, that would give her a bonus. She could model for Mimi's senior thesis fashion show. And she could take on another student to tutor. Fine. This was going to be fine. She wrote out emails to her Resident Director, Maurice, and her boss at the library, Mrs. Potts, and sent Mimi a text saying she would do the modeling. By the time she looked back at the clock, it was a little past 9. Perfect. Belle threw her hair into a ponytail, tugged on a sweater and blue jeans, and headed out.

* * *

"Good morning!"

"Hello!"

"Hi!" Belle called to the people on her way to the coffee shop, keeping her fingers crossed.

Despite the early start, today might actually turn out alright, considering she hasn't seen Gaston on her way here. She slipped inside _Nouvelle Cafe_ with a sigh of relief, stepping up to the counter.

"Hey girl!" Letty greeted, "The usual?"

"Double, actually. The girls woke me up with questions about Gaston."

Letty gave a sympathetic wince.

"Just for that, its on the house. Mimi told me you're going to be joining me as a model!"

"My scholarship application got rejected" Belle explained.

"Definitely on the house." Letty declared,  finishing off Belle's latte with some whipped cream. "You're still coming to Lucas' birthday party though, right?"

"Absolutely! I've gotta get to class, I'll see you and Mimi at lunch!"

Letty waved goodbye back, already helping another customer, as Belle stepped out the door. However, her luck seemed to have run out once more, as the door was caught by Gaston.

"So, if you're having lunch with your friends, you're free to meet me for dinner right?" He inquired, with what he probably thought was a winning smile.

"No." she answered, and pushed by him without bothering to give an explanation.

Belle took a long sip of her coffee. Today was going to be a long one.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No ownership, many thanks to Ali the beta

The rest of Belle's week moved fairly quickly, what with classes, tutoring, and her RA duties. Saturday night was Lucas' birthday party, and the whole friend group was out late into the night. Belle woke up Sunday morning, spent about half an hour trying to write a paper, and promptly fell back to sleep.

By the time Monday morning rolled around again, she was feeling much better. Just as well. Mrs. Potts, who ran the tutoring center, had sent an e-mail saying someone new had requested a tutor. Belle perused the information sheet during morning break, before talking it over with Connor during lunch.

"I don't get it," she began, as they settled down with their trays. "He's a senior. Why is he only taking his English requirement his last semester?"

Connor shrugged.

"Do you have a name? Maybe you can look him up on Facebook, get a clue as to what this guy is like,"

"Good plan!"

Belle pulled out her phone and began typing in the name on the information sheet, muttering aloud as she did.

"Adam...Lefranc," she mumbled, surprised when Connor went "OH!" before her results had loaded.

"What?" Belle asked, looking up.

"He's the quarterback of the football team." Connor explained, "He's already got his name in for the NFL draft, but he always talks about wanting to graduate first. Something about honoring his mother."

Belle raised her eyebrows. "And...how do you know this?"

"How do you not?" he retorted. "Everyone knows Adam Lefranc. They call him "The Beast" because he's broken like, five school records."

"All I know is that he'd better have an idea of what he wants to do about this French Revolution paper."

* * *

 

After her afternoon class had finished, Belle went straight to the library. She waved a hello to Mrs. Potts, petted Frou-Frou the therapy dog, and then took the stairs up the the fourth floor tutoring center. It was barely four o'clock, and Adam was due to show up at 4:15. Belle set up her name tag, brought up the syllabus on her laptop, and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

At 4:30, she was just about to put up her "Open Session," sign when a rather large human being landed in the seat across from her.

"Hi," he said, grinning, "I'm Adam, but everyone calls me The Beast. Wanna go out with me this Friday?"

Belle blinked. 

"Hello, Adam." she began, noting with satisfaction the way his face fell, just a little.

"I really don't want to go out with anyone at the moment, and even if I did, I try to keep my private life separate from work. Now. You have a paper on the French revolution due in two weeks. What were you thinking of using as a topic?"

"I was thinking I'd let my lovely tutor decide," he answered with a wink. 

Great. He was one of _those._ Belle was beginning to suspect that her lack of funding wasn't the only reason Mrs. Potts had sent Adam her way. He was every tutor's nightmare, and, worse, with his twinkling eyes and wide grin, a newer tutor might just be convinced to follow his lead. Belle, however, was having none of it.

"Well," she began sweetly, "I was thinking that maybe, just maybe,"

He leaned forwards.

"You could do your own work. I'm here to help you, not to enable you,"

Adam sat back in his chair, looking a little shocked.

"Now." Belle continued. "What do you like?"

"Football." Adam answered, as if she was an idiot for asking.

"Well, they didn't have football during the French revolution." Belle answered, typing quickly on her laptop and bringing up a list of topics related to the revolution in question.

"Here, pick one."

Adam's eyes scanned the list. 

"The Tennis Court Oath," he said finally. Of course.

"Alright. So, normally, we would use this time to start compiling sources. However, since you were 15 minutes late, we're about out of time, so you'll have to do that on your own. On Thursday," she said, taking out a piece of paper and writing the instructions down as she spoke,"Be ready with at least three sources discussing the Tennis Court Oath as an important event. No, Wikipedia, doesn't count, but following the links at the bottom might be a good place to find something."

She handed the paper over to Adam, who glanced at it quickly before shoving it in his backpack.

"And Adam," she added, as he stood. He paused. 

"4:15. Be on time!"

Adam nodded. 

"Sure you don't wanna go out with me?"

"Very."

* * *

After Adam had gone, Belle had some time to get her own work done, and two other students to tutor. The second of these was Lester, a boy who lived on Gaston's floor in her building, so when they had finished going over his Intro to Journalism syllabus and picking his topics for the semester, they walked back across campus together.  


Generally, Belle found Lester to be a decent guy. They shared a major, and he had a big heart. However, he also idolized Gaston, and as they drew closer to the dorm, the conversation turned towards her least favorite coworker.

"He really is so great, Belle!" Lester exclaimed, "I don't see why you won't go out with him. He's always telling us how beautiful you are,"

"That's the point L," Belle sighed, swiping her keycard to let them in. 

"I want someone who's going to see me as more that just a pretty face."

Lester's mouth opened as if he was about to say something, but thankfully, Maurice was walking by and called out to Belle.

"Belle, if you're going to be working Easter weekend, we have to fill out the holiday pay form. Do you have a minute?" 

Belle nodded and said her goodbye to Lester, before heading towards the resident director's office.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Ali, and to those behind the movie/story which i do not own.

"Here ya go!" Adam declared with a smug grin, dropping a piece of paper in front of her to start their Thursday session.

Belle glanced at the clock. 4:22. Well, it was an improvement. She picked up the piece of paper as Adam settled down in front of her.

"What...is this?" she asked, almost scared to know the answer.

"Sources! I took them from the Wikipedia page, just like you suggested, and I even copied down all six instead of just three of them. Bet you didn't think I would."

"Okay." Belle answered. There were, in fact, six links on the paper, obviously copy/pasted directly from the bottom of the Wikipedia page.

"The thing is," she continued slowly, "I meant for you to actually bring me the sources, not just the names. Also, technically, there are only five sources here. If you look at the list, you can see that four and six came from the same source."

"It's still more than three" He replied cheerfully, "And I did watch that video! Here!"

As he spoke, he had opened his laptop showing the YouTube video in question.

"The guys made fun of me for it, just so you know," he added, a little sulky now.

Belle resisted the urge to tell him exactly what she thought of "the guys'" opinions. Instead, she brought up the library's search engine, turning her laptop screen so Adam could see it.

"So, since you did get source names, we can use the rest of today to find them."

The first source was easy enough, a page from a book already on Google books. They found and printed relevant pages, then began plugging the other three ISBNs into the library's e-catalog. One wasn't available at the school, so Belle had Adam log in on his laptop and request it through the book share program.

The other two were at their library, and after finding where they would be, Belle and Adam headed up to the stacks.

"Why are you so into this stuff anyways?" Adam asked her, as they climbed the stairs from the fourth to the fifth floor.

"Into what?"

"This." He waved his hand, seemingly encompassing the entire library. "Books. Research. Writing."

"I'm a journalism major!" She replied, a little indignant. "Its my job to want to find out more, to ask questions, to inform people."

"Yeah, but why?" he demanded. "It's so much work!"

They were now on their second set of stairs, headed from fifth to sixth. Adam had been a tad surprised when Belle hadn't wanted to take the elevator, but anything that kept him in shape was fine by him.

"Because you can't just stay locked in your corner of the world!" she answered vehemently. "Ever since I was a little girl, I've wanted to travel and explore, and learn new things. Journalism gives me a way to do that, and help others learn too. Why did you pick psych, anyways?"

If Adam was surprised at her knowing his major, he didn't show it.

"I didn't," he replied honestly, as they made their way through the aisles, following the numbers.

"The coaches did. It has only the basic number of required credits, and a lot of the classes are offered online. Gives me more time to train. And party, to be honest." he added as an afterthought.

Belle hummed a little in acknowledgement, pointing at the book they needed. It was on the highest shelf, far above her reach, and Adam chuckled a little as he took it down and attempted to hand it off.

"All those muscles, you can carry your own books Mister," she rebuffed, then led him down the next aisle.

"What you got hurt playing or something?" she inquired.

"I honestly have no idea. I guess I've always just assumed I wouldn't, and that's been working out so far. Football's the only thing I've even been really good at. The only reason I'm even still at school is because my mom really wanted me to get a degree."

Belle, remembering what Connor has said, didn't miss the past tense, but decided it was none of her business. She and Adam were hardly on "sympathizing about dead mothers" level. Instead, she pointed at the second book, also way over her head, and the pair headed back down to the fourth floor.

"So." She declared as he packed up. "Look over the four sources you have, and make up an outline of the paper. On Monday, we can edit it, and start working on turning it into a first draft."

"Yes ma'am," he answered. "And Belle?"

"Yes?"

"Will you go out with me?"

"No!"

* * *

Sunday found Belle with Letty, Mimi, and a few underclassmen from Mimi's program, working on Mimi's fashion show outfits. Belle stood still while Mimi measured, then plunked down in a nearby chair while Letty took her turn.

"I'm surprised Lucas isn't here," Belle observed.

"Oh, he'll come by when we start dressing up," Letty laughed. "He and Connor have a date today."

"Girl, I don't know how you do it." Mimi commented, referring to Letty's rather unusual relationship situation.

"We talk, mostly," Letty answered, almost shrugging but catching herself when she realized that it would mess up the measurements. "I know he cares about me just as much as he cares about Connor, and vice versa. If there's something important coming up that I don't want him to miss, I let him know, and Connor does the same. Besides, it isn't like Connor and I aren't friends too."

"Anyways," Letty continued, seemingly to shift the attention off of herself, as some of the younger students were staring, "How are things with you and Caleb going?"

"Oh, they're great," Mimi giggled, waving Letty on and bringing her tape measure to the first of the underclassmen.

"Apparently, he's thinking of proposing at graduation. No more Mimi Garderobe, I'll be Mimi Denza! Mimi D sounds like a fabulous name for a designer, don't you think?"

Belle and Letty nodded their agreements. Just as Belle thought she was going to get away clean, Mimi switched the attention over to her.

"So, anyone special in your life?" She questioned, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Not unless you count my new tutoring client," Belle answered, "Which I don't!" she added hastily, seeing the look on Mimi's face.

"Fiiiiiine."

"So, did you see Saint Motel is coming to campus?" Belle inquired, changing the subject once more before she said anything she might regret.

"Yeah, Lucas got tickets for all three of us" Letty smiled, obviously sensing Belle's motives.

"I'm getting them for Caleb and I," Mimi declared. "He loves them. What about you?"

"Depends," Belle joked. "How much am I getting paid for this, and how many lattes is Letty giving me on the house?"

"Depends," Letty sassed back, "How do you feel about proofreading my final project free of charge?"

"Tough bargain," Belle laughed, as Mimi finished up with the last model's measurements.

* * *

After dinner with the girls, Belle made her way slowly back to the dorm, enjoying the still slightly chilly spring evening. Her stroll was interrupted, however, by a loud voice.

"Belle! Belle!"

"Fuck." she said aloud, not bothering to smother the curse, and picking up the pace. Gaston hadn't paid attention to any subtle hints, and he ignored obvious rejection as well. She had absolutely no reason to play nice.

"How is your evening?"

"Great until you showed up!" She replied, with false brightness, once again striding faster.

As expected, he plowed on. Damn his long legs.

"Well, I can hardly imagine why a lady wouldn't want to be escorted home by such a handsome man as myself. Besides, it can be quite dangerous for women walking alone at night."

It was barely dark, the horizon still glowing with the end of sunset.

"I'll be fine."

"Nonsense! And moving so fast, you'll be sure to over exert yourself! Trust me, I'm an ex-phys major," He declared, as though she didn't know. He even flexed his muscles slightly, seemingly in punctuation.

It was a little immature, but Belle stopped suddenly, leaving Gaston walking on ahead. Before he noticed, she darted quickly down a side path, giggling a little at her escape. She walked the long way back to the dorm, resuming her enjoyment of the evening.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All hail Ali, Empress of Beta, and also the French for coming up with this whole thing in the 1st place, and disney for bringing it to us.

When Adam walked in at 4:18 on Monday afternoon, Belle was tempted to clap, but "only three minutes late," was not "on time,", and besides, her love of sarcasm was not a good reason to disrupt the library.

"I didn't know which format to use, so I just picked the first one on Microsoft word." He began with. There were heavy bags under his eyes, and he slouched even lower in his chair than usual.

"This is...not bad," Belle replied. The outline was formatted correctly thanks to Word's programming, and he seemed to have put in most of the important information.

"You, on the other hand, look awful." she observed.

"It was a teammate's birthday yesterday," Adam groaned, head sinking in between his arms. His voice came out muffled.

"We were out until 3. I've skipped every class today, you're lucky I'm even here."

"Well, I could always just leave," Belle replied, making to gather her things. "I could use a coffee before my next student shows up."

"NO!" Adam declared, bolting upright.

"Well then." she answered, sitting back down. "Let's talk about this middle section. You do a good job of summarizing the contents of the oath, but you fail to fully analyze the impact. That book you ordered should help, you can grab it from the circulation desk on your way out."

Together, they fixed up some other small issues with his outline, and then started on the introduction to the paper. By the end of their half-hour together, Belle felt like they had made decent progress, and though Adam still looked tired, he also looked satisfied. She walked him to the desk to pick up the last book, and before he headed out, he turned to her to say, she assumed, goodbye."

"Hey Belle, wanna go out tomorrow?"

"Take a hint, Adam!"

* * *

Thursday rolled around and the clock had hit 4:28 by the time Adam strolled in, looking much better than he had on Monday.

"How has your week been? he asked, as he pulled out his laptop and a paper copy of the first draft.

"Good enough," Belle responded, pulling the paper towards her and beginning to go through it. "Though its better when my students don't waste my time. Especially when they've been improving."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him shift a bit uncomfortably, and bit back a grin.

"I'm glad to see you're fully recovered. How has yours been going?"

"It's going."

"Good."

There was silence for a while as Belle finished reading through the essay, making notes in the margins as she went. Adam, meanwhile, was flicking around on his phone. She was pretty sure he heard him whistle under his breath once or twice, and decided that she emphatically did not want to know.

"Here," She said finally.

"Most of your problems are with either run-on sentences or sentence fragments, I tried to give you some examples of how to fix them. And, of course, you have NO citations or works cited."

"Works cited? Is that like a bibliography?"

"HOW ARE YOU A GRADUATING SENIOR?" Belle demanded.

No. She didn't. The voice in Belle's head demanded that.

Belle herself, in what she was pretty sure was a reasonable tone, said "Sort of. Citations are notes on which source you got a particular piece of information from. Then you put a works cited with a total listing at the end of the paper. Here, this will help."

She typed the link for Citation Machine at the bottom of the document on his laptop, then pointed out the publishing information page in the books where most of the information could be found.

"Thanks"

"It's my job. I'd do one with you, but we're out of time. Have your second draft, with works cited, ready on Monday, and we can do the final edits then. If it looks good, you can have next Thursday off since the paper is due Friday. "

"We can have a date this Friday."

"No we can't. Bye Adam,"

"One of these days..." he began, but trailed off when he saw her glare.

"Bye Belle," he decided on instead, throwing a wink over his shoulder.

He caught her eye roll, but missed the slight smile.

* * *

Belle's biweeky staff meeting on Friday was nothing short of a nightmare. Though Maurice confirmed that she would be getting an Easter shift and the corresponding bonus, everything else was awful. It started when  Claudette, Laurel, and Pauline "accidentally" stumbled into the office, which turned into a swooning session over Gaston. This, of course, meant that he kept making comments such as

"I do spend a _lot_ of time at the gym,"

and

" _Many_ women find me extremely alluring, you ladies have _excellent_ taste,"

which were clearly targeted at her.

When the girls finally meandered out, the meeting itself ran long because the 3rd floor RA had had two incidents in the past two weeks, and Gaston and Belle had had one each. Each incident had to be thoroughly discussed, but since they usually had two at most, it wasn't a problem. Four, on the other hand, took a small eternity. By the time they finished, and got through programming requirements for the next two weeks, Belle was very ready to retreat back to her room. Instead, Gaston moved his bulk in front of the door and insisted on telling her how she could have handled her incident better, never mind that his had ended with even worse results.

She was thrilled to finally make her escape, and spent the latter part of her evening in blissful solitude with a book and some Saint Motel. God, she would love to go to that concert.

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No credit to me, and all thanks to Ali. Sorry for the longer-than-usual update time, tis finals week for the two of us.

He didn't show on Monday. Belle waited until 4:31, then put out her "open session," sign, and was soon helping a sophomore edit a paper on European fashion in the 1700's. After the session finished, Belle ran for a cup of coffee, and sent an e-mail to Adam telling him that since he didn't appear today, he'll have to show up Thursday for final edits. She was livid. It has seemed, for a minute, like they were making progress, but no, of course not.

He didn't reply to the e-mail.

* * *

Thursday, Adam showed up at 4:24, grin firmly in place.

"I'm soooo sorry," he started. "There was this girl, and we were..."

"I don't care in the least what you're doing with your time." Belle cut him off, words clipped.

He looked a little startled.

She took a deep breath, trying to get herself back to a professional level. "Though I'm annoyed by the disrespect and the waste of my time, you're not doing _me_ any favors by being here. I'm here to help _you._ So I really don't care what you were doing, because you were just hurting yourself."

This, of course, ignored the whole money thing, but that really wasn't his business anyways. And besides, she did get some pay out of it from the open session student.

"I'm sorry." he said again, "I'm not used to people calling me out on this stuff. Besides, no expects a football star to keep his appointments anyways."

"Show me your latest," she replied, in lieu of an actual answer.

Adam brought up the document on his laptop, and she swiveled it to face her, humming as she fixed some "their", "they're," there" mistakes.  She was aware that Adam seemed to be trying to speak, but hummed a little louder.

Finally, he decided on, "What song is that?" and she couldn't help but answer.

"Destroyer. By Saint Motel."

"Never heard of them."

"They're good. They're coming to campus later this year."

They lapsed back into silence but for her humming, and the occasional click of her fingers on the keyboard as she split a run-on or added quotation marks.

However, he seemed to decide that since she answered once, it was worth trying another apology.

"I am sorry. It's just, I'm used to, y'know, doing what I want and stuff. Plus," he added, clearly trying to turn the charm back on, "Since the prettiest girl on campus won't go out with me, I might as well hang out with some other ladies."

Belle very nearly slammed the laptop shut, but it was a _very_ nice piece of technology, and her problem was with the owner not the device.

"Yes. I've gotten to figure that out. But if you really were sorry, you would have replied to my e-mail. If you really were sorry, you wouldn't have been late, again, today. If you really were sorry, you would stop making excuses and own up to the fact that you screwed up. Besides," she added, mimicking his tone from earlier, "Everyone expects football stars to show up on time for games. You're here for a reason. Treat it, and me, with some respect."

Adam took the laptop back.

"Fine. If I'm such an inconvenience to you, then you're fired. I'll ask Mrs. Potts for a new tutor to get me through this pointless bullshit. Who actually uses this stuff in real life anyways?"

Belle didn't bother replying to that, just stood up, grabbed her wallet, and headed for _Nouvelle Cafe_.

When she got back to the tutoring center, Adam was gone. She put a quick text in the group chat, _"Drinks tomorrow, anyone?"_ before her next student showed up.

* * *

Drinks turned into dinner, movies, and bar hopping, so by the time she, Letty, Lucas, Connor, Mimi, and Caleb made it to their favorite spot, they were all a drink or two past tipsy.

"So," Mimi hiccuped, after they had all ordered and managed to snag a table as another group left, "What gives, girl? You're never the one to suggest a night out."

The others murmured in agreement.

"Oh, I got fired," Belle replied, much more lightly than she would have in any other situation.

"Nope. I do not believe it. The lovely Miss Belle Trandafir does not get fired," Caleb declared, as if reading from some official document.

"Well, not fired." Belle amended, a little more soberly. "Adam was especially awful all week and then yesterday, he told me he doesn't want me tutoring anymore. Apparently, he can't deal with people calling him on his bullshit."

"Oh honey," Letty crooned sympathetically, slinging an arm around Belle's shoulders.

"It's fine," Belle answered. "He was hardly my favorite student in the first place. Did I tell you he wasn't on time even once?"

Connor, who tutored in the math department, gave a particularly violent shudder at that.

"And Adam was always going on about the girls he was with, but he still asked me out after every fucking session. It's like, take a hint dude! Always acted like I should be so impressed by the fact that he was a football star." She went on, her voice rising in anger. She probably would have kept going, but a male voice cut in from behind her.

"Not talking about Adam Lefranc are you?" it inquired.

"I am." Belle declared, turning in her seat.

The guy was huge, almost as big as Adam himself, and was with a mass of equally large guys and a group of girls whose outfits that must have been coordinated. They surrounded the table with Belle and her friends.

"Don't talk shit about Beast!" one of the girls declared. "He's just the sweetest guy!"

"The sweetest guy, huh?" Belle mocked before she could think better of it. "And how many times has he left you on read huh?"

The girl turned red, which served only to encourage her friends to rally to her, and Adam's, defense. Before Belle quite knew what was happening, she, Mimi, and Letty were all facing off against a posse of shrieking girls, while the guys were closing in ominously around Lucas, Connor, and Caleb. The whole situation was getting out of  control when a loud voice boomed

"What the _fuck_ is going on?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it would be beautiful if i owned this, but life is beastly. Ali, however, is definitely a bright spot. As are all those who comment :)

To say the bar went silent would be a massive overstatement. A college bar was never quiet on a Friday night. Their corner, however, certainly got a lot quieter.

" _Well?_ " said the voice, anger and exasperation lacing his tone.

For the first time, Belle truly understood why Adam's nickname was Beast. Football prowess aside, he was _intimidating_ when he wanted to be. His friends backed off immediately, almost slumping a little, while her crowd looked unsure. Even Belle herself was a little cowed. Had he always been this _big?_

"Look man," said the football player who had come up to them in the first place, "this chick was talking shit about you, and we figured it was our job, as your friends, to say something."

Adam's eyes turned to her, and she tossed her hair, refusing to show how freaked out she had been when the groupies started closing in, or how unsure she was now. Those drinks certainly weren't helping. Wasn't alcohol supposed to be liquid courage?

"I was. I was saying how you're always late and have no respect for anyone who isn't exactly like you. Also, you expect everyone to do everything for you. And you insult my career choice pretty much every chance you get. Why can't you just understand that I _like_ books and writing, be _grateful_ that you get an awesome tutor out of that, and leave it be?"

Shit. She hadn't meant to say all that.

Adam's face went blank for a second, and then his friend started talking again.

"See bro, we couldn't just let her get away with"

"Well she isn't wrong." Adam interrupted.

His friends seemed shocked.

"Are you seriously going to defend some bitchy nobody who's probably never even seen you play?" sneered one of the girls.

"She has, actually," Connor broke in.

Strictly speaking, it was true. Belle had looked up some of his game tapes after their first session, and texted Connor about it so he would, in her words, "Shut up about just how cool this asshole is." She wasn't sure if that actually counted as seeing him play though.

Adam's lips might have twitched.

"I am." He said to the girl, "I have been late to every tutoring session. I even skipped one entirely. And have tried to get her to do my work for me."

He turned to Belle, whose mouth was hanging open a little. She snapped it shut.

"Can I buy you guys a drink? I know its not much of an apology, but its the least I can do right now."

"I...sure."

The two of them went up to the bar to get the drinks while Belle's friends held the table.

After they had ordered, Belle spoke.

"So...I'm sorry if anything got screwed up with your friends."

Adam shrugged.

"I mean, it'll all blow over pretty soon. And _you_ hurt my pride a little, but I think I'll recover from that too."

They waited for the drinks and brought them back to the table in silence.

* * *

Monday at four, Belle found herself sitting with Frou-Frou on the library floor.

"I don't know if he'll show," she told the pup, "And it will probably be so weird if he does!"

True, she hadn't gotten the e-mail from Mrs. Potts declaring that she had lost a student, but that really didn't mean anything with Adam. And while she hoped that Friday had changed something, drunken confrontations at bars were not the best way to turn over a new leaf.

At 4:05, she headed up to the tutoring center, and over to her regular table.

At 4:12, Adam dropped into the seat across from her, and spent the extra three minutes not looking at her while making a show of getting his stuff set up.

"So..." she said, at 4:15.

"My professor said grades for the French Revolution paper should be in some time on Wednesday."

"Okay. The next one is exploring the themes of a Shakespeare play, right?

"Yeah. I, um, looked up some options."

" _Romeo and Juliet_ is my favorite."

"That was not on the list. I don't like love stories"

"You don't even read!" Belle exclaimed, before she could think better of it.

To her relief, Adam didn't seem to take offense.

"Yeah, but if I'm going to start, I might as well pick something I think I'll like."

Belle conceded the point.

"So, what is on the list?"

He pushed the paper, with five titles, towards her. It was, to his credit, a decent list.

" _Hamlet_ is great, very complex. _Macbeth_ is a classic starter, and I think the theatre department is putting it on later this semester. You'd appreciate the humor in _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ , and _The Taming of the Shrew_. _Twelfth Night_ is my second favorite. But I thought you said no love stories?"

"It didn't look sappy like a lot of the other ones."

"That's fair. So...?"

" _Twelfth Night?"_

_"Twelfth Night."_

They wrapped up for the day after looking up some sources and grabbing a copy of the play for Adam ("Can't I just borrow yours?" "I have a _Complete Works_ that I'm not willing to part with for a full three weeks.").

As he packed his bag, Adam glanced at her. Belle mentally tensed as she expected him to return to his obnoxious demeanor. Instead, she got a "See you on Thursday!" and a wave.

Huh.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ownership is no, thanks to Ali is yes. Its moving week, so things are a bit chaotic still, thank you for the patience. On the plus side, I'm between leases, so ALI IS MY ROOMMATE!!!   
> On that note, "Sorry everyone! I just graduated and then completely forgot that this beautiful chapter was sent to me!" --Ali   
> (she doesn't know I'm adding this bit, so, EVERYONE SAY CONGRATS TO ALI in the comments. She graduated pre-vet and is headed to vet school in the fall)

The rest of the week went by uneventfully. Belle passed her own exam on Tuesday. On Thursday, Adam showed up on time with a grin and a B on his paper. And because no week could be too perfect, Gaston was an ass at the staff meeting. Saturday, Mimi needed to be in the fine arts building to compare fabrics for her final designs, so the entire crew wandered over to study. Belle was writing an analysis for her Magazine Feature Writing class, while Connor helped Letty with a budget for Accounting for Hospitality Operations. Caleb was supposed to be writing a paper for History of Film Music, but was instead mostly making moon eyes at his girlfriend, and Lucas was reading articles about language teaching styles for Theory of Teaching French.

They passed a few hours like this, mostly wrapped up in their own work, until Caleb's stomach grumbled loudly at about 1:30.

"Pizza!" he announced, while the rest murmured their agreement.

"Not here, though," Mimi said, shooing them out of the fabrics room towards the building's foyer.

While they waited for the pizza to arrive, they cleared a table of its issues of Vogue and Juxtapoz, and pulled up chairs.

"So," Connor began, after they had finished off the first pie.

"How was Beast this week?"

"Please don't call him that," Belle groaned, to put off actually answering.

"Fine. How was _Adam_ this week?"

"Seriously girl," Letty commented, "Every time I've asked when you're in for coffee, you've blown me off."

"That's because there's nothing to tell!" Belle commented. "He's actually being a decent human. I'm just worried it won't last, so I don't want to talk about it in case I jinx it."

"That's reasonable. I still can't believe he bought all of us drinks. He doesn't even know us!"

"I think he was probably too in shock at someone standing up to him to know what he was doing," Belle replied with an eye roll.

"Yeah, but he's not in shock anymore, is he?" Caleb pointed out.

"Goodness knows. Can we talk about something else now?"

Thankfully, her friends took the hint, and the conversation moved on to Letty's manager's latest mishap at _Nouvelle Cafe_. Robert was a great guy and treated his staff well, but the man was a huge klutz.

* * *

Monday rolled around, and Belle eagerly attempted to avoid Gaston as she and Lester got back from the library.

"Belle, you know that Saint Motel is coming to campus right?" Gaston said, ignoring all signs that Belle was avoiding him

"I do," Belle replied shortly, successfully maneuvering around him to get to her mailbox.

"I assume your friends are all going with each other, so you will require someone to accompany you."

"Actually, I'm probably not going to go."

"You must! Their new album has an excellent variety of songs, and they are such a quality example of a horn section being used in pop music."

Belle slammed the mailbox door.

"I am aware. I can't afford the tickets."

She turned on her heel and began climbing the staircase before Gaston could reply.

* * *

"So, um, I listened to that band you were talking about," Adam commented on Thursday as she read over his first draft.

"Hmmm?"

"Saint Motel?"

"Oh yeah! What did you think?"

"I liked them. Not my usual style, but catchy. I assume you're going to the concert?"

Belle sighed, and turned the focus back to his paper.

"This section needs some rearranging. You need to be more clear about the connections between the themes of gender flexibility and class flexibility."

"Okay, thanks. The concert?" Adam answered, undeterred.

With Gaston, Belle had blurted out the truth in frustration. With Adam, genuinely asking, Belle felt more self conscious.

"Probably not. I need the money for other things."

There was an awkward pause.

"Sorry."

"You're fine. Strengthen the conclusion and you'll be good to go. Same deal as with the other paper, if you show up Monday with a decent final draft, you get Thursday off."

"Yeah, because that worked out sooooo well last time," Adam chuckled as he packed up.

"Are you making fun of yourself now?" Belle exclaimed, too caught off guard to giggle.

"I guess." He answered, shrugging his backpack on. "Seeya Belle!"


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Ali, the newly graduated and always awesome beta. Again, congratulate her guys, she's awesome :) and as always, ownership is not mine

"So, how was your weekend?" Adam inquired, taking out his latest draft of the paper.

"Not bad. Had the first fitting for my friend's fashion show. Only the first layer is done, but it's gonna be a gigantic ballgown when she's done."

"Color?"

"Yellow. Show me the paper."

"Maybe I'll come see you in it," he said, so flippantly she almost missed it as she started looking over the paper.

"Personal life stays personal, Adam." Belle answered when she had processed the words.

"Yeah, sure. So, um, what do you think of that quote I used to talk about the first theme?"

 "If music be the food of love, play on," Belle recited, missing his eyes on her mouth. "One of the most frequently quoted Shakespeare lines,  but still a good one. And it does open the play, so it makes sense to put it in the beginning of you paper, with desire and love as the first theme. You do a good job of demonstrating how desire then influences the rest of the themes."

"Thanks. I was surprised at how easy it was to get into, once I figured out what the hell they were talking about."

"Yeah, even I tend to take a minute to snap into it. What made you choose this line?"

"If I did love you in my master's flame,  
With such a suffering, such a deadly life,  
In your denial I would find no sense,  
I would not understand it."

Adam read, and Belle was surprised at how good it sounded in his deep voice.

"That's the one."

"It's like, Viola's talking about how if she loved this Olivia chick, she wouldn't understand Olivia's rejection. But then Olivia does love her that much, and Viola does reject her because she's not actually this Cesar guy. So Viola says this thing, and doesn't realize how it will matter to her later on. Olivia feels like Orsino doesn't know the real her, and then later, Viola gets why Olivia rejects him, because Olivia doesn't know the real her."

Belle took a moment to wrap her head around his words.

"That's...really good." she said finally.

The rest of the session was productive, and Belle told him he could have Thursday off.

He left her with a "Fare thee well, sweet lady."

* * *

Wednesday, Belle got lunch with Caleb.

"So, how's the final composition coming along?" she asked, as they sat down with their trays.

"It's going well. I'm currently working on the brass parts. Should be done by the end of spring break. I'll do the woodwinds last, it shouldn't take too long, and I've already put the orchestra together, so we should have about 3 weeks to rehearse."

"I can't believe it's next week! I feel like this semester is going by so quickly. You doing anything for break?"

"Nah, just heading home to hang out with the family. Chip is starting to get acceptance letters back so I'll probably help him with his decision if he wants me to. You?"

"Same. Haven't seen Dad since winter break, and I need some time away."

"Is your favorite student back to being awful?"

"He's actually still acting decently. Gaston still won't get a clue though, and I need time to catch up on some reading."

"Good call. I'll see you on Saturday for Mimi's pre-break thing?"

"I'm catching the afternoon bus on Friday, so, no."

"I think Lucas is too. Oh well. We still have the second half of the semester."

"That we do."

* * *

"Hey, can you meet me at the library? Out front is fine" the text read, at 2:57 on Friday.

Belle stared at her phone. She had given Adam her number just in case, but he had never used it until now, and she had zero idea why. Her paper had been due this morning, and she seriously doubted he was looking to get a head start on the first post-break assignment. Plus, she still had packing to do before her bus left. But if he needed help with something...she sighed and checked the time.

"I can be there in an hour," she typed back.

An hour and seven minutes later, Belle arrived in front of the building to see Adam sitting on one of the benches.

"Now who's late?" He teased.

"Yeah, yeah." she grumbled in response. "What's up? Did something go wrong with submitting the Shakespeare paper?"

"No, no, nothing like that," he answered hurriedly. "I just, um, here." He thrust an envelope at her.

She opened it slowly, and pulled out two tickets to the Saint Motel concert.

"Holy shit!" she exclaimed.

"I still kinda owe you from being such an ass at the start of the semester. And I figured you would want to take a friend or something, so..." He said, more awkward than she had ever seen him.

"Adam, I..." But she was cut off by her cell ringing.

"Belle! Where are you? The bus leaves in 5 minutes!" came Lucas' frantic voice over the phone.

Belle swore again.

"I gotta go!" She called back to Adam, already half a block away, "But thank you! Thank you very much!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" she said to Lucas, rushing across campus.

"So." She started, when she slid panting into the seat next to him. "You're never gonna believe what Adam did!"

Neither of them noticed Gaston, two rows back.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all know the drill. no credit to me but tons to Ali

The week of spring break came and went. For Belle, it was excellent. Between hanging out with old friends, spending time with family, and catching up on some reading and Netflix, the week left her feeling relaxed and refreshed. Using departmental contacts, she had even managed to set up two phone interview for when she returned to school. When she got on the bus Sunday afternoon to head back to campus, she was fully ready to take on her last six weeks of college.

Unfortunately, the universe had other plans.

The bus lurched to a stop, jerking Belle awake from where she had been dozing on Lucas' shoulder.

"What's going on?" she mumbled sleepily.

"Mechanical trouble," he replied.

"Not to worry, not to worry, I'm sure that everything will get fixed up right away." Gaston blustered, brushing past them.

To Belle's relief, he didn't stop to talk more, but instead stepped off of the bus where they could here him talking to the driver about her was _sure_ he could help with _whatever_ the problem was, he had _plenty_ of experience with this sort of thing. Belle and Lucas rolled their eyes at each other, and since Belle was up, they began talking about their schedules for the following weeks.

As it turned out, Belle probably should have gone back to napping. The delay from the mechanical error meant that they hit more traffic later on, compounding the delay, and by the time they got back to campus, it was a little past eleven. Belle said a weary goodbye to Lucas, hauled her bags back to the dorm, and sent a brief e-mail to her professors and tutoring clients saying that she was taking the day off tomorrow, she knew it was odd to do it the day after break, she would explain more later. She hit a few more buttons to forward the e-mail to Mrs. Potts at the tutoring center, then undressed and staggered towards the bed. Her head hurt from the stress of the long day, her body was achy for being in the seat for so long, and the minute her head hit the pillow, she was out.

* * *

Around 11am, Belle finally woke up, feeling much better. She took the time to unpack, put away her laundry, and send more details to her professors, explaining the ordeal with the bus. Around 1:30, she made herself some ramen and was about to compose explanation texts to her students when someone knocked on her door.

"Hey L!" she greeted.

"Hey Belle. I know your text said you were taking the day, but I was wondering if you could please look over my plans for my second half Intro projects, based on the feedback my professor gave me from the first half. I promise it won't take too long."

Belle glanced at the e-mails she had been about to write. Well, helping Lester meant there would be one less to send, so she figured it was worth it.

"Sure thing. Come on in!"

Belle moved her laptop to her lap, and pulled an extra chair over to the desk for Lester.

"So, Gaston said you weren't going to the concert on Saturday." Lester commented, as they were finishing up 20 minutes later.

"Oh," Belle replied, "That might have changed. I'm not quite sure yet though."

"Well, he said to tell you that he would be honored to escort you for the night, and that he could take care of any, um, problems."

Belle's eyes narrowed.

"L, whatever Gaston is thinking, I want no part of it. Having one of my not-so favorite people along to see my favorite band wouldn't exactly enhance the experience. And furthermore, you, yourself have better things to be doing than acting as his messenger boy, and to be honest, I have better things to do than listen. "

"I'll tell him you said you'd think about it," the boy replied as he left her room.

"Lester..." she called after him, but he had already started down the staircase.

Belle sighed, and went over to her desk, picking up the tickets she had pulled out of her suitcase. They were good seats, near the center of the stage, a little far back, which wasn't surprising considering how late Adam had bought them. Only problem was, Lucas, Letty, and Connor were going together. Caleb and Mimi were definitely going to turn it into a full-blown date night. She could take one of the girls from her floor, but she didn't want to seem like she was playing favorites. Her coworkers at the library were nice, but they weren't close, same went for the third floor RA. She briefly considered asking Maurice, and was about to send the e-mail when she remembered he had volunteered to be on duty that night, so the rest of the staff could attend. And she certainly wasn't going to take Gaston. Belle smirked a little. She could always bring Lester along, but the problem of favoritism by an RA would still be there.

"You could always take Ad" two little voices that sounded suspiciously like Mimi and Letty chorused in the back of her mind, but she shut down the thought before it could finish.

* * *

Thursday was nothing short of awful. Belle's alarm didn't go off, so she found herself rushing to class without time to stop for a coffee. This, of course, meant that she was dazed and distracted in her first lecture, and when her professor called on her to discuss one of the articles they had been asked to analyze over break, she realized she had left her notes in her room as she rushed out.

After that, she finally got to stop by _Nouvelle Cafe,_ saying a quick hello to Letty and ordering a double. Her friend took one look at her face and added an extra sweetener, which Belle appreciated, but it went to waste when, halfway to her second lecture, someone bumped into her while rushing on their own way. Coffee cascaded down her blouse, and the person managed barely a "sorry!" as they continued on. Belle sat through the entire lecture practically vibrating with frustration. When she got back to the dorm, the girls were waiting for her with questions about which outfit options she liked best for the concert, and which makeup looks they should go with, and how should they do their hair, and weren't they so responsible for not waiting to the last minute to plan?

Belle let them in while she changed, and tried to answer their questions while making sure she had gathered everything she would need for her afternoon class and tutoring sessions.

Her third class of the day went fine, but just as she left for the library, the sky opened up, drenching her with cold, early spring rain. Belle was a shivering mess by the time she made it to the tutoring center, and her mood was not improved by seeing Gaston sitting across from Adam in her usual chair.

Adam, who looked oddly...small. But she had bigger problems to face at the moment.

"What are _you_ doing here?" she snapped at Gaston, he patience for the day long since used up.

"Well, I was just informing Adam that while it was quite kind of him to get you those tickets to Saint Motel, the effort was for nothing considering you'll be attending with your boyfriend."

"My...my what?" Belle stuttered.

"It's okay Belle," Adam said, shrugging. "I mean, I get why you didn't tell me, you always said you wanted to keep your private life separate from work. And it makes sense now why you ran off so fast when I gave you the tickets, and why you didn't ever send details on why you didn't come to tutoring on Monday."

Belle gaped a little, coffee-deprived brain still playing catch up.

"Anyways. I'll send you what I have so far on my third paper. It's on methods of analyzing deeper meanings in classic literature. I'll see you Monday, I guess, and enjoy the concert."

With that, he was gone, and Belle was left with a smirking Gaston.

Her brain finally put all the pieces together in the middle of Gaston waxing on about their pre-concert dinner plans.

She ran out on him somewhere around the word "tiramisu."


	10. Chapter 10

Belle wondered, briefly, if this was the universe punishing her for reading too many books. Sure, she had daydreamed about being the heroine of a story, but she had been picturing daring adventures, not running out into a deluge after a guy. The rain was coming down even harder than when she had come to the library. She stood under the library's awning, squinting into the rain, trying to see Adam. Finally, she spotted a massive figure that was, more likely than not, him.

"Adam!" she screamed, leaving the awning's shelter to run after him.

To her relief, the figure stopped and turned.

"I'm serious Belle, I'm happy for you. Go back and hang out with your boyfriend. I promise I'll get my work done," He said, a little stiffly, once she had caught up.

"Oh for goodness sake!" she exclaimed. "That insufferable pig is not my boyfriend!"

Belle took a little to much joy in the expression of surprise and confusion that crossed his face.

"Now." she continued. "Can we _please_ go back inside and discuss this with a lower chance of getting pneumonia?"

Adam nodded mutely, and the two of them walked the block back to the library. When they got back up to the fourth floor, Gaston was still there.

"Ah! Belle! I am happy to see you have found your runaway student. I must admire your dedication to your job and..."

"Hello? Yes. Hi Mrs. Potts." Belle said, cell phone to her ear.

"There's a student here who is harassing me, if you could send security to my station that would be great. I'll fill out all the paperwork to get him on the banned list while we wait."

* * *

After Gaston had been dragged away by security and Belle had completed all of the forms explaining the incident, Adam and Belle sat next to each other one a bench outside, having been shooed out by Mrs. Potts for dripping all over the upholstery.

"So..." Adam started, then trailed off.

"All of my friends already have tickets to the concert." Belle stated.

"I don't want to take a resident because it would show favoritism, and my RD is working that night. Obviously I'm not going to go with Gaston, so I'm in a bit of a pickle. I really don't want those tickets to got to waste, but I also kinda feel awkward about going alone."

Silence.

"You could, ummm, take someone you tutor?" Adam offered finally.

"I mean, I really only talk with two of them, and one is a resident so..."

"So, take the other I guess..."

"Yeah, that's the plan."

More silence.

"You should, uh, go ask them then."

Belle stared at him, and Adam stared at the rain.

"Oh for goodness sake! You ask me out twice a week for nearly a month and when I finally return the offer, you can't even make eye contact! What the heck?" Belle burst out, when the tension got too thick.

Adam's expression had gone from surprised, to rueful, to happy, to just as frustrated as Belle's as she spoke.

"That was you trying to ask me out? When you ask someone out, you _ask_ them, you don't make it into a guessing game!"

"Well you show me how its done then!"

"Fine! Belle, you're intelligent, you're beautiful, and you're not afraid to call me on my bullshit! I got those tickets hoping you would ask me to go with you, but when you didn't I figured you had other plans. Now I know you don't. So. Belle. Will you go to the Saint Motel concert with me, this Saturday? And maybe, I don't know, to dinner or something before?"

Adam trailed off at the end. They had turned towards each other as they spoke. He was a bit red in the face, and suddenly uncertain again.

"Yes." Belle replied, a little softly. "I would love to get dinner and go to the concert with you." Before she could regret it, she placed her hands on top of his own, where they lay on his lap.

"Okay." Adam said, grin sprawling across his face now. "Good."

They stared at each other for a moment, grinning like idiots, and then Adam pulled her to her feet and swept her up, spinning her around while she laughed.

"Its a whole new world up there!" she exclaimed, slightly out of breath, as he put her down.

"Did you like the view?" He replied, chuckling.

"Yeah."

"Good." he answered, smiling down at her. "Cause I've got a pretty good one right now too."


End file.
